Month: January 2017

An executive search firm is often referred to as a professional service provider company that has specialization in recruitment of executives and other senior professionals for its client companies under some form of agreement. There are many companies now days who are seeking service from such firms in order to fill in the positions in a time and cost effective manner with perfection. While it is a very effective approach to gear up for recruitment needs, there are certain factors that need to be kept in mind for the selection of such firms.

The first thing to look out for is the industry experience. It is better to look for executive search firms which have already worked in the similar segment for a better knowledge base. The best way to find this information is through company website. If the industry in which the firm has worked is not mentioned, it is better to go through the list of clients for which the firm has worked for. This also helps in gaining insight regarding the same.

Every business has its own sell-ability quotient and business development objectives. This criterion holds true for executive search firms as well. An insight regarding their business model and structure they follow to provide their service is essential to be noted. This will determine whether the business process is suitable for the client company or not.

The success of a firm lies in the number of tasks completed by the company rather than number or projects it roped in. So, one should visit online forums wherein organizations and individuals give feedback about the recruitment projects actually completed successfully by such firms. This determines the actual performance of the firm.

Flexibility is a key to such firms. The better a firm can mold the business process in accordance with the client company, the more effective service provider it becomes. Hence adaptability of the service provider in accordance with client company structure and work culture is an added advantage.

Recruitment process is a continuous process. The companies are usually in need for professionals all-round the year for various functionalities and building up as well as maintaining a stable workforce. Hence, if one can enter in to long term partnership with such a firm, then it becomes a cost and time effective approach of handling the recruitment needs to the business.

The executive search firm should have a strong database of candidate profiles which is updated on a regular basis. This helps in looking in to the fresh profiles that are most updated and relevant at the same time. The networking channels of such a firm should be strong and well connected to source the candidates effectively. In addition to this, it should also have access to passive candidates. Such candidates are not easily available as they are not actively looking for jobs and mostly are working with competitors. The executive search firm should be able to convince such candidates for the opportunity and the selection process.

HR management has been the talk of the town in recent times with the advent new corporate structure and advanced reforms that have taken place in the global economy and industry segments. Previously, companies used to keep the involvement of HR segment to minimum in the business process and its budget allocation was also limited. This is due to the fact that HR is not a direct profit yielding segment. But now the thought process has changed. Companies have understood the importance of HR and its direct involvement in attaining the strategic business goals in the long and short term. With this understanding another aspect of HR management has risen, which is partnering with an HR agency for management of this business segment. With this trend, it is also essential to understand the advantages and down sides of this partnership. Hence both sides of it are as follows: –

Advantages

The HR process has many aspects to it which includes workforce management, payroll management, time sheet maintenance, HR policies, organizational structuring, performance management and such like. This required experienced resources who can not only manage these systems but also from time to time make necessary amendments and changes according to current industry trends and reforms. This can be effectively done by a HR agency. They are the industry experts who are well versed with the such restructuring and processes.

Secondly, in order to manage this process, a company requires additional resources in certain specialty segment as well. Hiring such resources and maintaining a set up similar to that adds to the capital cost of the company. But if a HR agency is given this responsibility then it reduces the overall operational costs of the company.

The recruitment process can be benefitted with this approach. Usually, these agencies have access to a sizable section of candidate database which can be effective towards the hiring process. They also have certain profiles which might not be available in public domain or through regular sources. This approach is especially helpful towards recruitment in the niche segments and technical aspects. This will eventually boost productivity and workforce performance.

Disadvantages

Outsourcing of the HR process to a third party service provider means that the company will have to share all the corporate information with the agency. This might include certain confidential information as well. If due to certain reason these type of information is breached, it might result in loss of credibility and market position.

If a HR agency is taken in to consideration, then the company needs to pass the entire control of the HR process to the agency. This might result in losing out on control of the business process within the organization. It might harm the managerial and productivity aspects to some extent.

Lastly, the company needs to reply on the candidates short listed for the recruitment drive by such an agency. It might happen that the quality of the candidate list might not be up to the mark for recruitment.

Therefore, the organizations should consider both the aspects before partnering with such an agency.